Blower unit for heaters



Dec. 30, 1958 H. E. THOMPSON BLOWER UNIT FOR HEATERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed 001:. 29, l956 INVENTOR HARRY E. THOMPSON ATTORNEY Dec. 30, 1958 THOMPSON 2,866,399

BLOWER UNIT FOR HEATERS Filed Oct. 29, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 :::J A J M E mw r E Q lb I INVENTOR HARRY E. THOMPSON BY A ORNEY United States Patent 9 f BLOWER UNIT FOR HEATERS Harry E. Thompson, Steubenville, Ohio, assignor to The Ohio Foundry & Manufacturing Company, Steubenville, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application October 29, 1956, Serial No. 618,872

2 Claims. (Cl. 98-39) This invention relates to space heaters for heating rooms or the like, and more particularly to a blower unit for diverting ascending warm air currents in a horizontal direction across the room.

Heaters supplying warm air currents may be of the type vertically embodied as a part of a wall structure, or, alternatively, may be of the cabinet type, the heat in most instances being supplied by the combustion of gaseous fuel. Heaters of the cabinet type usually include a front panel having louvers, and a top wall also having slots or louvers for permitting the ascending heat currents to escape into the space to be heated. Cabinet heaters of this type may perform efficiently and economically without the use of forced air circulation depending on the type and price of installation and the cubic contents of the space to be heated. But, on the other hand, it is highly desirable to readily be able to convert this cabinet type heater from gravity to forced air circulation with a minimum expenditure of time and labor.

Accordingly, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a self-contained blower unit which may be readily fitted to the back panel of a cabinet type space heater simply by knocking out a partially pre-formed opening in the back of the casing, mounting the unit on the outer surface of the panel, and having the air stream thereof directed substantially horizontally and inwardly below the upper wall of the cabinet so as to force heated currents not only through the apertured top but also through the louvers of the front panel.

. Another object of the invention is to provide a novel forced air duct construction wihch is compartmented so as to enable the main blast of forced air to be directed inwardly of the cabinet, while, at the same time, a reduced volume thereof passes through a compartment or chamber containing the automatic and manual controls and which should be kept as cool as possible in order to preserve their efliciency and longevity.

With the above and other objects in View which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of a part of the back panel of a cabinet illustrating the present invention mounted thereon.

Fig. 2 is a detail vertical section taken on the line 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 is a more or less diagrammatic view of the back panel of the cabinet heater as it appears before the blower unit of the present invention is mounted thereon.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the construction shown in Fig. 1, partially bro-ken away to illustrate the bafl le plate and the primary and secondary air compartments.

Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the construction shown in Fig. 3 on an enlarged scale to illus- Patented Dec. 30, 1958 trate the baffle plate and the primary and secondary compartments, the said view being taken at an angle of to Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a detail end elevation illustrating how the impeller unit is mounted on the back panel of the cabinet.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

As will be observed from Figs. 1 and 2 the cabinet type heater is designated generally as A and includes top, side, front and back walls, and a bottom wall, not shown, it being understood that the cabinet is in substantially the form of a rectangular cube with louvers in the top wall and front wall to permit the escape of heat.

As will be seen from Fig. 2 the back panel B is proprovided with a flue opening 1 to connect the combustion chamber with the chimney where that is required, and a so-called knock-out panel 2 which is partially separated from the back wall B, and may be removed by a hammer blow of suflicient magnitude, to provide a rectangular opening 3 in the back wall.

To one side of the knock-out panel 2 there are pro-,

vided spaced openings 4 for receiving screws for securing the spider of the impeller casing to the back wall, the said impeller casing having its lower portion resting on the upper face of a bracket 5, said upper face being provided with a suitable sound deadening pad 6 which renders the operation of the impeller as silent as possible having in view the possible amplification factor of the back panel B.

The self-contained forced air blower unit includes an impeller 7 mounted in a casing 8 having the forced air outlet portion 9. The impeller 7 is supported on the bracket 5 as previously indicated, and, also, the impeller casing is provided with a spider 8 whose fastenings 8 enter the holes 4 having suitable sound. proof bumpers or washers therein.

The air distributing duct D is in the form of a housing and receives air discharged from the outlet 9 of the blower unit. This duct includes a top wall If a back or outer wall 11, bottom wall 12, and a closed end wall 13. The top wall 10 has a right angularly dispsoed flange l0 provided with slots for receiving a fastening which enters pre-formed holes in the upper edge of the back panel B. Likewise, the bottom wall 12 has a right angularly disposed flange 12 provided with slots for receiving fastenings for connecting the duct to the back wall. The purpose of the slots in the flanges 10 and 12 for receiving the fastenings is to enable the duct casing to be shifted longitudinally so as to have its open end 15 telescopically fit over the outlet 9 of the blower casing. As shown in Fig. l, the edge of the open end 15 of the duct is provided with vertically disposed slots for receiving fastenings to secure the back wall 11 to the related wall of the blower housing 8.

The side of the duct opposite the Wall 11 namely, the inner wall opens inwardly into the heating space of the cabinet through the rectangular opening 3, and, for the purpose of directing air inwardly and upwardly of the upper portion of the cabinet the open side of the duct is provided with an upwardly inclined wall 16. As will be seen fro-m Figs. 3 and 4, the closed end 13 of the duct is provided with a vertical wing portion 17 which, in effect, constitutes an inward continuation of the wall 13 except that it permits air to flow upwardly and outwardly from the duct. The edge 18 of the wall 16 (Fig. 3) opens into the cabinet.

The interior of the duct is provided with a baflie plate 19 which divides the duct into a main forced air compartment E receiving discharge from the outlet 9 of the blower and a secondary or control unit compartment F remote from the inlet. The rear edge 20 of this baflle plate is connected with the inner face of the back Wall 11 while its forward edge terminates at the inclined wall 16, and, as shown in Fig. 2, provides for directing air upwardly toward the top wall of the cabinet as indicated by the arrows. The upper edge 21 and the lower edge 22 of the bafile plate 19 terminate short of the inner side of the top wall and the inner side of the bottom wall 12 to provide air circulating spaces between the forced air compartment E and the control compartment F.

The control compartment F contains a thermal switch arrangement S (Fig. 4) and a manual switch M which in turn are wired to the impeller and to a source of current supplied by the feed in wires 25 (Fig. 1). It will thus be understood that the impeller 7 of the blower unit is thermostatically controlled and may be set to operate automatically, or, if desired, the manual switch M may be employed when desired.

When the impeller 7 of the blower forces air out through the outlet 9 of the impeller casing it passes into the duct and strikes the baflle 19 whereby the greater portion thereof is directed upwardly along the upper face of the inclined wall 16, as shown by the arrows in Figs. 2 and 3. Some of the air escapes through the spaces provided between the inner sides of the casing and the upper edge 21 and lower edge 22 of the bafile plate 19. The baffle 19 is important because without it air discharged from the blower would tend to pocket in one corner of the duct and shoot off to one side of the unit only. Note the circulation of air shown by the arrows in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. The manual control M and the thermostatic switch S will thus be supplied with part of the forced air, thereby keeping them relatively cool while the principal air pressure is directed into the cabinet beneath the top wall thereof and substantially horizontally relative to the ascending currents of the heater within the cabinet.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the present invention provides a self-contained unit in the nature of an attachment which may be readily fitted to cabinet type heaters to fulfill the objects set forth at the preface of this specification.

I claim:

1. A space heater, comprising, in combination, a heater cabinet having louvered top and front walls for the normal emission of heat by gravity and a back wall having a knock-out opening, a prefabricated forced air unit in the form of an attachment to the back wall at said knock-out opening for converting said heater cabinet from a gravity heater into a forced air heater directing heat through the louvers into the room space, said forced air unit comprising, a blower having an air inlet and outlet, an elongated duct extending parallel to said heater back wall having one end open and its opposite end closed, a longitudinal side wall of said duct being bent to form an upwardly and outwardly inclined baflie wall, means for mounting the outlet of the blower on the open end of the duct with the impeller axis of the blower extending at right angles to said baflle at the side wall of said duct, means for mounting said duct and blower on the back wall of said heater so that the inclined side wall of the duct projects through said knock-out opening in said rear wall, a bafile extending transversely of the duct from the back wall to the inclined wall and having its upper and lower edge portions spaced from the top and bottom walls of the duct, said baffie disposed between the open and closed ends of the duct to provide a main forced air receiving compartment, and a secondary compartment connecting with the main compartment through said space between the upper and lower edge portions of the bame, and manual and automatic electrical control means in said secondary compartment.

2. A prefabricated blower and air directing unit for attachment to the back wall of a space heater cabinet having a knock-out opening, said unit comprising, a selfcontained forced air unit including a blower having an air inlet and outlet, and an elongated duct having inner and outer and top and bottom walls and one end open and its opposite end closed, an upwardly and outwardly inclined baffie wall on the inner wall, means for mounting the outlet of the blower on the open end of the duct with the impeller axis of the blower extending at right angles to the bafile on the side wall of said duct, means for mounting said duct and blower on the back wall of the heater so that the inclined side wall of the duct projects through said knock-out opening, a bafile extending transversely across the duct from the rear face of said outer wall to the inclined wall, said bafile having its upper and lower edge portions spaced from the top and bottom walls of the duct and located between the open and closed end of the duct to provide a main forced air receiving compartment and a secondary compartment communicating with the main compartment across the upper and lower edge portions of the baffle, a wing on the closed wall of the duct extending to said upwardly inclined wall, means for mounting said duct on the back wall of a cabinet, and manual and automatic electrical control means located in said secondary compartment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,228,201 Cotes Jan. 7, 1941 2,291,543 Findley July 28, 1942 2,566,033 Reeves Aug. 28, 1951 2,640,411 Hans June 2, 1953 2,678,597 Simons May 18, 1954 

